Pierre Joris from
Meditations on the Stations of Mansur al-Hallaj
33. reflection: tafakkur 1. could it be that time again? after the doing, the reflecting.
2. tafakkur for an hour is better than a year’s
But I have done nothing! that, they say, is just it.
worship. It is a lamp in the heart.
Don’t think of it before doing it
3. The Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufis teach: “Let’s take a practical example. We are angry.
: sounds like bad advice. Thought144 |
lessness as principle of action. Or is thought indeed only reflection, afterthought, postburn after the muscles get flexed? Too platonic? In Mansur’s mind the tafakkur will have been the recitation of the divine names, dhikrullah, because the names are the energies of God. Contemplation then, rather than reflection. Forethought, it is said, militates against inner stillness.
We make tafakur by looking inside & seeing who the angry person is. This ‘person’ is really a figment, an illusory knot of disappointed expectations and energies. It is not who we truly are. If we can see this we are already healing. We then drop deeper into the heart level and see how the angry self is drawing its energy from the ocean of our heart. Now allow the limited self to dissolve, as consciousness is drawn deeper and deeper. Tafakur is like the bee